The Next Four

69. "Crying" – Roy Orbison
70. "Walk On By" – Dionne Warwick

72. "California Girls" – The Beach Boys"
73. "Superstition" – Stevie Wonder

every week I purchase and download 4 more songs that I don't have from the list. Here are the next four.

The Homeless Children of Tulsa

Driving by local area shelters you will often see adults standing nearby or walking within the vicinity, but rarely are homeless children ever seen. Although it is comforting to try to tell ourselves there are no homeless children in Tulsa, a survey conducted this year yielded different findings.

The survey reflected the following;

•934 Homeless Adults
•124 Homeless Children
•334 Reported Being Homeless 1-6 Months

read the entire article
http://www.examiner.com/poverty-in-tulsa/homeless-children-tulsa

Metaphors

On the one hand there's something not right in the universe.  If you try to sense it out.. you can feel it.  It's like a dissonance or a separation between things and people.. and it makes its way out into "the real world" by all sorts of things.. but specifically by way of all the -isms.

Sexism..

Racism..

Nationalism..(not the same as patriotism in my view) etc..

I was listening to the (The Reverend) Al Green driving down Sheridan Rd. and I was remembering this article I had been reading in a Religious magazine.  In the article this Religious musician was talking about music and how the music wasn't "Holy" enough he thought.. and that it was offensive to sing about God "as your girlfriend"... he said... like if there was this wall between "normal life".. and the higher "spiritual" world... an uncrossable line.. or a plastic barrier where things like "friendship"... or old fashioned "romantic love" (and sex) should never be allowed to mix with the higher (more important) things.. like doctrine.. and worship.. and church.. and God.. and I wondered if this guy had ever read his own Holy Book.....because there are tons of metaphors about this Universal "other"..- "God"... and us... (mankind).. as 2 Lovers.

The Jewish book (a lot like "the blues") poetically describes this separation we feel in the world.. and all the crap that goes with it as 2 Lovers... split by betrayal... the dissonance and the distance?... because we (generally speaking of humanity as a whole) no longer give a crap about our spiritual lover.. and as well..  no longer give a crap about it's Universal image (mankind... all people).. And As a Result?

Racism.. Sexism.. Nationalism etc.    

The Christian scriptures describe the healed Universe as "the Bride".. and compares it to the consummation of a marriage and a wedding party.. (for all) With Music.. and booze..

Jesus turned water to wine at a wedding

and Sex.

the Jewish wedding always began with the "union" of 2 lovers.  Sex...  and then the week long celebration afterward.

And with all this Party and Sex and Lover talk..  it tends to bring up this whole other thing for me when I listen to "normal" music.

Now when I hear just plain old Love songs...  Elton John.. The Doors.. Or (the Reverend) Al Green I can't hear them without thinking of this bigger thing on a Universal level.    

Love and Sex are Metaphors.

And the sad thing about it to me is that Religion can't get that.  When it comes to dissonance..  spirituality recognizes the separation and seeks to overcome it.

Religion perpetuate's it.  




 
  

Support Local Artists

Club 209 The Arts Bar presents: Local Tulsa Artist Donna Louise Ham.. UNDER HIS WINGS, Nove 4-28. Reception is Nov 4th, 7-10pm.

www.club209tulsa.com
www.theprayinggirl.com

Support Local Musicians

Sunday Nov. 6th at the Yellow Brick Road Pub.

A Cozy Night Indoors with Johnny Badseed and the Rotten Apples, And Maria Fantasma, with Special Guest Eric Von Strauss, 2630 at 15th st. Tulsa Ok across the street from OZ, Music Starts around 10pm

Light My Fire (#35 on the List)

Light My Fire
The Doors


You know that it would be untrue
You know that I would be a liar
If I was to say to you
Girl, we couldn't get much higher
Come on baby, light my fire
Come on baby, light my fire
Try to set the night on fire

The band appeared on various TV shows, such as American Bandstand, miming to a playback of the single, "Light My Fire" however the song was performed live by The Doors on The Ed Sullivan Show broadcast on September 17, 1967. The Doors were asked by producer Bob Precht, Sullivan's son-in-law, to change the line "girl, we couldn't get much higher", as the sponsors were uncomfortable with the possible reference to drug-taking.[5][6] The band agreed to do so, and did a rehearsal using the amended lyrics; however, during the live performance, the band's lead singer Jim Morrison sang the original lyric.[5]Ed Sullivan did not shake Morrison's hand as he left the stage. The band had been negotiating a seven-episode deal with the producers; however, after breaking the agreement not to perform the line, they were informed they would never do the Sullivan show again. Morrison's response was "We 'did' Sullivan."[7]

Wiki for What its good for...
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_My_Fire

If 66 was 69

What's out of bounds?  How far's too far?  Human Freedom (a big deal in the art world) gets little respect with the religious. 

Rather...  Rules....

Go here.  Don't go there.  Listen to this.  Don't say that....

Rules tend to be the "vision" for the world and it's problem... from the religious side... 

But if a turn around is what's expected of me.. A U-Turn of life... based on a long list of somebody else's do's and donts...  I can't do it. 

It doesn't work.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't say that cause I'm a bastard.. (no more than anyone else is..)  It's just the way it is. 

I was coming up heavy.. to a cross section of road.. approaching 11th street.... which in Tulsa Oklahoma is the famous.. nostalgic.. route 66.  (America's Main Street)..

On 11th street there are buildings with architecture common of most city streets.. fast food places.. mini strip-malls..

But there are classic buildings as well... 40's/50's type.. reminiscent of the types of things one might see traveling the classic highway.  Example?.. Tally's Cafe on the corner of 11th and Yale is a classic American Diner.. Sleek.. Sexy.. Red, Blue, and Yellow Neon.. 1950's sock-hop decor.

But.. like the 1950's.. (and in every pew.. in every church across this great land)... there's a whole other thing happening under the surface on 11th street.. (especially the further you get "downtown"...)

I mean that literally.. and figuratively.
If Tulsa is the Buckle of the Bible belt.. then there are places on 11th street that (to follow the metaphor).. are further down below..

...the zipper... get it..(Jimmy Swaggart?... the original open fly of the bible-belt).    

As I drove north down Sheridan Rd. I passed adult video stores.. converted buildings to strip clubs.. and the occasional motel (with "movies".. and hourly rates?).

Sex.  I said.

I was taken aback...

Sex is happening out here in Tulsa Oklahoma... 

For Heaven's sake.... What do you do with something like that?

The Next Four

65. "Sunshine of Your Life" – Cream
66. "Redemption Song" – Bob Marley and The Wailers
67. "Jailhouse Rock" – Elvis Presley
68. "Tangled Up in Blue" – Bob Dylan

Each week I purchase 4 more songs from the list that I don't already have.  These are the next four.